Product Description

User Reviews

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Submitted by
Mr.Don
a Casual Listener

Date Reviewed: June 27, 2015

Bottom Line:

First, a tip of the hat to Bose. I bought a pair of 501's when the war was still on in the 70's and they were sold at the PX with a "lifetime warranty" for service members. When I retired, I dragged them out of storage and they were ruined. I called in my S/N and long story short, they mailed me a new pair of 301's (501's are not made anymore) in spite of the fact they no longer offer this type of warranty! Today I got a pair of Bose 2.2 speakers for TWO DOLLARS at a yard sale! I wired 'em up and they perform beautifully. They could use a bit more base but my den's furniture won't permit an exact set up. But if you see an older pair of Bose speakers, fear not. They are always worth the money.

Well I use these for my surrounds and they work fine. The problem with these speakers is that, like the AM5 cubes, the treble/mid driver is just too small. if I'm not mistaken, the 2.2 uses the same drivers as the AM5, (6 1/2" bass driver, and a tiny 2 1/2" treb/mid that I think is in the cubes)

Considering the space taken up by the bass chambers in the 2.2s is roughly the same space as the bass module in the AM5, shouldn't these be able to put out equal bass? Well they don't. Not even close, which tells me that Bose didn't put much thought into the design. But to it's credit, these are equal to a lot of the "surround" speakers that sell for more. I'd say at about $60-80 a pair these would be a good buy for some surrounds in a mid-level system, or for mains in a small room like a bedroom.

I purchased these speakers in the late 80's while in highschool. They definitely sounded better than the other bookshelf speakers that the store carried. I have been quite happy with them, especially with the soundstage that they provide when properly set up. The main problem I have had is with an apparent exaggeration in the lower mids, which I have always had to "fix" with an equalizer. I have used the speakers with multiple amplifiers so the speakers are to blame. I didn't realize how bad the problem was until I got married and listened to the speakers that my wife had from an old Sanyo rack system. They had really terrible highs and boomy bass, but the lower mids were far superior to the Bose 2.2; it was not necessary to use an equalizer to try and fix the irritating sounds I was getting.

Recently I have been shopping for a mini system for our bedroom, and ran across a nice little system by Denon with Mission speakers (D-M30S). The little Missions that come with that system definitely outperform the Bose 2.2, although the bass seems deeper on the Bose. Considering this entire minisystem with receiver/CD + Missions can be found online for < $350 (including shipping), I have to conclude that the Bose 2.2s are not a very good value.

Summary: the Bose 2.2s are average speakers with an above average price. If you are a casual music listener you will probably be reasonably happy with them, although my recent shopping suggests that there are better speakers for the money.

These speakers have been great performers for me for nearly 10 years... I bought them new in 1992, and haven't found anything in the same price range that even comes close to the sound quality of these. Last year my wife bought me a new surround sound system, so I haven't been using them, and I just Auctioned them off for $70... not too bad for having only paid $175 and having used them for 10 years. I'd definately reccomend these speakers to anyone looking for some inexpensive speakers for thier system.

These speakers are perfect for what i wanted to use them for. I placed them in my sun porch and the double as an out door/patio speaker when I'm entertaining. Even though they are approx 10 years old they still sound great for the money as do my 901's seriesII's do after 25+ years. For all you Bose bashers, just remember, you get what you pay for.